MILAN - It's almost time for the US. After the training camp in Pinzolo, and the friendly at Hamburg on 27 July, Inter will take part in the Guinness International Champions Cup, a competition featuring a host of Europe's top sides. Besides the Nerazzurri, AC Milan, Chelsea, Everton, Juventus, LA Galaxy, Real Madrid and Valencia are all involved. It all gets started on 27 July, but Walter Mazzarri's men are first in action on 1 August.
Every team will play three matches. Inter's first encounter is effectively a quarter-final (Round 1) and the draw has already been made: the Nerazzurri take on Chelsea, now managed by a familiar old face, José Mourinho. The match will be played at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on 1 August at 20:00 local time (02:00 CET on 2 August).
The other Round 1 matches see Juventus take on Everton (San Francisco), Real Madrid meet the Galaxy (Phoenix), while AC Milan will be in action against Valencia at the Estadio de Mestalla (the only match to be played in Europe).
Should Inter beat the Blues, they would play the winner of Valencia-AC Milan in effectively the semi-finals (Round 2) at New York's MetLife Stadium at 18:30 local time on 4 August (00:30 CET on 5 August). A defeat for the Nerazzurri, meanwhile, would leave them in a play-off with the loser of the same fixture. The game will still be held in New York, only a little earlier (16:00 EST, 22:00 CET).
The Championship Round then follows at Miami's Sun Life Stadium between the top four sides. The final between the top two will be played on 7 August at 21:00 local time (03:00 CET on 8 August), while the third-place play-off kicks off at 18:30 EST (00:30 CET on 8 August).
On top of that, there will be two more fixtures to determine fifth and seventh place, between teams defeated in the first round: these matches will be determined by a points system based on each team's results in their previous two matches (2 points for a win and 1 for win on penalties).
The tournament rules stipulate that any matches ending level will go straight to penalties.
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